He argues that "it is no coincidence that the charges are directed at a network that Egyptian security officials often describe as the media wing of an enemy state."

The problem is that the current Cairo political leadership views Al-Jazeera's home country, Qatar, as supportive of the Muslim Brotherhood and Islamist leaders in Egypt.

Carlstrom quotes Michael Wahid Hanna, a fellow at the New York-based Century Foundation, as saying:

"One of the things that leads to all of this is that Qatar is hosting, supporting, providing a place of refuge for Brotherhood leaders... and providing a platform through Al-Jazeera."

He points to the appearance of Essam Abdel Magid, who is wanted in Egypt on charges of incitement to murder, on Al-Jazeera Arabic. On air, he accused the Egyptian army of siding with "religious minorities," an ugly reference to Egypt's Coptic Christian population.

Other Islamist leaders supportive of the deposed president, Mohammed Morsi, have also appeared in recent weeks on both the Arabic channel and its Egypt affiliate, Mubasher Misr.

None of this content is broadcast on Al-Jazeera English (AJE), which is separate from its Arabic stablemate, with different management, different editorial lines, even physically separate buildings in Doha.

"It's accurate, balanced, fair," said Sue Turton, a Doha-based AJE correspondent and presenter. "We are a different channel."

A trio of AJE staff - Peter Greste, Mohamed Fadel Fahmy and Baher Mohamed - were arrested on 29 December 2013. They were later charged with "spreading false news." In their absence more Al-Jazeera staff were charged, including AJE's Sue Turton. Carlstrom continues...

The recent arrests have undeniably had a chilling effect on the press. They are also part of a broader crackdown: more than 80 journalists have been arbitrarily detained in recent months.

But it's Al-Jazeera that has borne the brunt of this hostility, and not just from the government. On 25 January, two newspaper reporters were attacked by an angry mob in Tahrir Square that inexplicably decided they were Al-Jazeera employees.

Later that day, a police officer warned a cameraman from the MBC satellite channel to stop filming a pro-Morsi protest. Otherwise, he threatened to tell local residents that the crew worked for Al-Jazeera, then watch as they were attacked.

According to Carlstrom, though Turton and Heather Allan, AJE's head of news-gathering, do not blame their Arabic counterparts for this intense hostility, "they do not exactly defend their sister channel either."

He quotes Allan as saying: "I can talk for us. As far as we're concerned, we stand by our reporting... from across the road, it's their editorial line."

For many Egyptians, however, and certainly for the government, that distinction [between AJE and the Arabic channel] no longer seems relevant.